Practical Insights (Blog)

Over $90bn of new plants are due to come on line along the Gulf Corridor. With demand for freight already outstripping track capacity and rail freight charges rising fast, there are testing times ahead for shippers that rely on rail to take their products to market.

Improving rail velocity is a growing priority for shippers, but it's difficult to achieve when you're in a challenging relationship with your rail carrier. In many cases, poor relationships between shippers and carriers are as much the responsibility of the shippers who accept poor service as the carriers who offer it. So what if shippers and carriers were to start thinking about how they can help each other out? It is possible to turn even the worst shipper/carrier relationship into a mutually beneficial partnership but first you have to speak each others' language.

Blake Gasaway is Maine Pointe's Logistics Practice Team Leader for the Chemicals Industry.As demand for rail freight intensifies, rail logistics along the Alabama corridor are becoming ever more congested, with forecasts indicating that freight volume will continue to increase.The challenges this creates are causing pain to all major shippers using the corridor threatening both growth and capability. As many of the shippers are already aware, improved collaboration with Norfolk Southern (NS) is the key to beating the congestion challenge.Working together, shippers and NS can find the answers to some critical questions:

Maine Pointe recruited STARS to contribute their expertise in an engagement with one of the largest Eastern U.S. refinery operators that focused on the optimization of a comprehensive rail strategy.We recently invited Wendy Buckley to offer her perspective on some of the developments in the regulatory landscape that will impact rail logistics.